New to forum tnx to wa8yxm

[CROSSBOLT]

Hi, y'all! Been on RV.net for a few years and recently read on there about this forum thanks to WA8YXM and here I am!

We full-time in a 36' Bounder we call "Bertha" and are presently in the Quartzsite, AZ area fixin' to leave for TN 1 Feb. working an Elecraft K2 on CW and SSB plus a coupla 2 m "bricks" we have not figured out how to program yet! I started in ham radio as a kid in the early 50s with a Hallicrafters and a Heath AT-1. Discovering girls kinda slid radio into the backseat (oops!) until I saw John Watkins N0EVH throwing a wire over a tree limb in Estes Park, CO for his KX-1. HE is the one that got me started with the new generation kits from Elecraft. It's HIS fault!

The DW and I were fortunate to have some time in the Rio Grande Valley to study for and successfully pass the exams given by the great team of VEs in Harlingen, TX. Taking a test from VEs is way preferable to the "old way" at the Federal Bldg!

We are looking forward to some fun times in ham radio! With people like you!

73

Karl
KI4ZUQ and

Millie
KJ4BHI

[WD8QBQ]

Welcome Karl and Millie, :welcome: it's good to have you aboard. Hopefully we will meet one day. :beer:

There has been a lot of talk about mobile ham shacks and antenna brand and mounting. What do you have there?

Especially interested where your rig is situated. Do you Ham HF going down the road or just when parked.

Do :poke:you ever get into trouble with Millie for talking into the mike too much?

How long have you been Fulltiming, we plan to start in Sept.

[wa8yxm]

Well, Thanks Karl... I have often recommended this or that forum to folks because I think they might like it.... (And I hope you do, I know this is a nice place to type) I think you are the 2nd to say "Thanks" and the other one ... Well there were two of us working on her so it was a shared honor.

[Dizzy-Dick]

Welcome aboard Karl and Millie. There are a lot of interesting and informative posts and threads on this forum pertaining to RVing and Ham Radio. Make yourself feel at home and add posts and give information or ask for some.

73's,

[CROSSBOLT]

Thanks everybody! Jim, WD8QBQ, we have been full-time since Aug 2004. We have not looked back since! I cannot even walk and chew gum simultaneously so I do NOT ham it up underway....yet! Santa brought a fiberglass Wonder Pole this Christmas so HF antennas are home brew pieces of wire hooked to the K2. Got a computer bag at a TJ Maxx kinda store and the K2, phones, mike and key are in that. Hamfest in Corpus Christy sold me a thru-bushing for PL-256 and that gets the coax thru the deck to the outside via the right front wheel well. Naw, Millie does not grouse at me yet since the K2 range is kinda short on QRP. I can hear portables in Hawaii and South America but they cannot hear me! Looks to me like ya got a good candidate in a motorhome for full-timing!

73
Karl
KI4ZUQ

[wa8yxm]

I will tell you one thing that makes it easier for DX to hear you...

Change modes.. A few years ago I discovered PSK-31 and I'm still feeling like a kid in a candy store... I've worked some really rare DX and get 599's. and the evidence is that they are not just sending 599 cause that's the default RST on the software :)

I push 30-50 watts to the wire and work Italy, France, Grand Cayman's Belgim, Cuba, Russia, and a host of other countries.

NO tower, just trees and 100' of wire (With an auto-tuner on one end)

Lots of fun.. I'm not really a DX chaser (Though I might easily become one) more of a rag chewer (As if my many posts on the internet don't show that off) but hey.. IT's fun

I have not heard Hawaii though S.A. yes, HI no. and I want both HI and CA

[One Country Boy]

Welcome Karl and Millie. Glad to have you onboard. Great bunch here and lots of good information and friendships.

We are not full timers but both retired and RV every chance we get. RV and Ham Radio, to great ways to spend your time.

Welcome again.

[TXiceman]

Welcome aboard. A few months back I finally got the radio set up for digital and like PSK31.

It is great to be able to work into Europe on 20 or 30 watts with a dipole when a 100 watts is usless on SSB.

Ken

[Bob W4RAA]

Karl/Millie:

Welcome:welcome:

Glad your here.

73s

[wa8yxm]

until I saw John Watkins N0EVH throwing a wire over a tree limb
KJ4BHI

YOu know... that's how MY antenna gets raised when I park most of the time (So long as there is a tree limb to throw it over) :)

I like that kind of anteanna.. Gets good signal reports most of the time too.